Diving in Iceland

[Rich1234]

Has anyone dived the Silfra in Iceland? Me and a friend are looking to go later in the year. The cost to dive the Silfra with a dive centre seems really expensive though - £165+. Is it possible for us to just bring our own kit, rent a cylinder and car and dive the site on our own?

We are both experienced divers.

Thanks

 

[the_dragon_no1]

I would like to get more info about this aswell..


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[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I have thought about that too and it appears to be a simple dive but the only place to rent tanks in the whole of Iceland are the few dive shops that do that tour. If you find out the answer to your questions then I would love to know as well.

 

[Patrick999]

I dove Silfra in August, on my way to Greenland. I paid Eur 200 for two dives. I can obviously only describe my experience with the shop I chose, but it seems to me that all the shops are arranging this trip more or less the same way.
- We were a group of about 15 divers. A young lady and I were the only ones having experience with drysuits, which are obviously required. 2 other divers had never used a drysuit, the other people were skorkeling, also in drysuits. Needless to say that dressing up everybody took over 2 hours.
- The dive is to a depth of 10 meters, it is forbidden to even get close to any opening. In between you have 2 walls, which you have to cross at about 2m. The last 10-15 minutes of the 35m dive is between 2 and 3 m in silk.
- I skipped my second dive.
- Without being able to verify I was told later that SILFRA is not even the place where the two tectonic plates touch.

Summary: Silfra seems to be a big tourist trap and my dive there is one of the very view dives I regret.

Patrick

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I dove Silfra in August, on my way to Greenland. I paid Eur 200 for two dives. I can obviously only describe my experience with the shop I chose, but it seems to me that all the shops are arranging this trip more or less the same way.
- We were a group of about 15 divers. A young lady and I were the only ones having experience with drysuits, which are obviously required. 2 other divers had never used a drysuit, the other people were skorkeling, also in drysuits. Needless to say that dressing up everybody took over 2 hours.
- The dive is to a depth of 10 meters, it is forbidden to even get close to any opening. In between you have 2 walls, which you have to cross at about 2m. The last 10-15 minutes of the 35m dive is between 2 and 3 m in silk.
- I skipped my second dive.
- Without being able to verify I was told later that SILFRA is not even the place where the two tectonic plates touch.

Summary: Silfra seems to be a big tourist trap and my dive there is one of the very view dives I regret.

Patrick

So basicially, this is a dive in a rocky pond with amazing visibility!

 

[the_dragon_no1]

BUT it's probably the best visibility in the world when it is at its best.. soooo... well, i wanna go there! !!


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[Rich1234]

Thanks Patrick. I can't see myself going to Iceland and not doing it but it helps to have an idea of what to expect.

According to another post if I speak to 'Valdi at kofunarvorur.is he rents out tanks/suits/weights and speaks perfect English' so I'm going to try that route first. Otherwise it's 200 euros to dive a novice site with inexperienced divers :-(

 

[RMAdventure]

I didn't dive Silfra when I was in Iceland, but I believe the dive is located in a national park. I would make sure that it is open to diving without guides.

 

[Patrick999]

Hello everybody. I am of course just commenting on SILFRA, I did not do any other dive there. I did a motorcycle tour in 2008, the country is just amazing.
It seems to me that diving without a guide is not possible. Diving is very regulated at SILFRA, if you want to dive without guide you should check it first.
Patrick

 

[k374]

it's located in Thingvellir National Park, I wasn't aware that Silfra isn't the location of the continental boundary...as far as I've read it is.

Þingvellir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does mention it as the tectonic plate boundary:
Silfra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For me I guess it's worth a dive as it seems like something different from my other dives. Viz is supposed to be upto 300 meters (not feet...METERS!!!) :shocked2: